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Monday, June 25, 2018

... the forty-one year old Victoria Hill plays the role of Torchy Blane.. in all of Steven Spielberg's / Francis Ford Copolla's .. "Superman ; man of steel".. and "Superman; man of tomorrow" movies....

Torchy BlaneCreated by Frederick Nebel (1903-1966)
"You always told me to play up the feminine angle in my stories. A woman doing anything is good copy. Here I'd be [a woman] against two men and I'll beat them too."
--
Torchy tells her editor what's what in Fly Away, Baby.
Somewhere along the line, in the transition from the pulps to celluloid, Frederick Nebel's skinny, drunk-as-a-skunk Kennedy of The Free Press became a sassy, brassy, sexy wisecracking newswoman named TORCHY BLANE and Lieutenant Steve MacBride the object of her affections. Nine B-films were made in the thirties featuring The Herald's hotshot newshawk and the series turned out to be a quite profitable one for Warner Brothers. Nothing great, maybe, but they had "a certain speed and zip," according to Everson's The Detective in Film.
Zip? Hell, they were greased lightning at times. The plots move so fast -- and Torchy's lightspeed wisecracks flash by so quickly -- all you can do is sit back and enjoy the ride.
In the thirties, a world far, far away from Grafton, Paretsky et al, a female reporter was about the most independent and intelligent role model for young women the movies had to offer. And Torchy was by far the most famous female journalist of them all. As played by Glenda Farrell, Torchy more or less embodied everyone's notion of what a female reporter looked and sounded like for that era -- fast-talking and feisty, self-confident and even cocky -- and forced to contend constantly with the biases of her era.
Particularly the cops, who were invariably meatheads. Farrell co-starred with Barton MacLane as MacBride in all but two of the films. Lola Lane and Paul Kelly took over in Torchy Blane in Panama (1938) and Jane Wyman and Allen Jenkins paired in the final film of the series, Torchy Plays with Dynamite (1939). But it was Farrell that was the real deal -- she brought a energy and zest to the role that brought the scripts to life, adding serious snap, crackle and pop to every scene she was in. Even the scripts couldn't keep up.
Perpetually on the hunt for a scoop, she'd do whatever it took to get it -- eavesdropping, breaking and entering, going undercover, even allowing herself to be kidnapped. She was utterly fearless and focussed -- her only other interests being steak dinners and her "Stevie-Weevie."
In fact, it was too bad that the screenwriters, mostly male, always seemed to make sure that no matter how cocky and independent Torchy was or even potentially subversive, that by the final scene she would once again find herself in the arms of the good-natured lump MacBride. It was as if to underline the fact that no matter how self-sufficient they seemed, what every woman really wanted was a man -- even if he was a meathead -- and a family.
As an article on journalist role models in popular culture on the Annenberg School for Communication web site put it, "The question wasn't how could Torchy Blane care about a numskull policeman like Steve McBride. The issue was that in the 1930s, she really had no choice."
Which, come to think of it, may be why Torchy was so driven and so gleefully determined to play second fiddle professionally to no man.
Somebody buy this lady a steak.
THE CREATOR SPEAKS
  • But sexual politics or not, Nebel didn't seem to mind the wholesale changes in his characters. When pressed about it, Nebel would respond, "Hell, they always change the stuff around. But I don't mind--as long as I don't have to make the changes."
FURTHER EVIDENCE
  • Steve (trying to prevent Torchy from following him): "This rat hole is no place for a woman."
    Torchy: "But I'm a newspaperman!"
    -- Smart Blonde
    ,Torchy: "I've got ink in my blood and a nose for news that needs something besides powder"
    -- Blondes at Work
  • Cop: "Hold it. You can't go in there, lady. There's been a hold-up and a murder."
    Torchy: "You're wrong, boys. Hold-ups and murder are my meat. Here's the open sesame that swings wide all portals - my press pass."
    --
    Torchy Blane in Panama
  • Cop: "Quit kidding, Torchy. You ain't no lady. You're a reporter. "
    -- Torchy Blane in Chinatown
FILMS
  • SMART BLONDE. Buy this DVD
    (1936, Warner Brothers)
    65 minutes, black & white
    Based on the short story "No Hard Feelings" by Frederick Nebel
    Screenplay by Kenneth Gamet and Don Ryan
    Directed by Frank McDonald
    Starring Glenda Farrell as TORCHY BLANEand Barton MacLane as MacBRIDE
    Also starring
    Winifred Shaw, Tom Kennedy,  Craig Reynolds, Addison Richards, Jane Wyman, Joseph Crehan, John Sheehan, Max Wagner,  George Lloyd
  • THE ADVENTUROUS BLONDE. Buy this DVD
    (1937, Warner Brothers)
    Based on characters created by Frederick Nebel
    Starring Glenda Farrell as TORCHY BLANEand Barton MacLane as MacBRIDE
    Also starring
    Tom Kennedy
  • FLY-AWAY BABY. Buy this DVD
    (1937, Warner Brothers)
    Based on characters created by Frederick Nebel
    Starring Glenda Farrell as TORCHY BLANEand Barton MacLane as MacBRIDE
    Also starring
    Tom Kennedy
  • BLONDES AT WORK. Buy this DVD
    (1938, Warner Brothers)
    Based on characters created by Frederick Nebel
    Starring Glenda Farrell as TORCHY BLANEand Barton MacLane as MacBRIDE
    Also starring
    Tom Kennedy
  • TORCHY BLANE IN PANAMA. Buy this DVD
    (AKA Trouble in Panama)
    (1938, Warner Brothers)
    Based on characters created by Frederick Nebel
    Starring Lola Lane as TORCHY BLANEand Paul Kelly as MacBRIDE
    Also starring
    Tom Kennedy
  • TORCHY GETS HER MAN. Buy this DVD
    (1938, Warner Brothers)
    Based on characters created by Frederick Nebel
    Starring Glenda Farrell as TORCHY BLANEand Barton MacLane as MacBRIDE
    Also starring
    Tom Kennedy, Paul Kelly
  • TORCHY BLANE IN CHINATOWN. Buy this DVD
    (1939, Warner Brothers)
    Based on characters created by Frederick Nebel
    Starring Glenda Farrell as TORCHY BLANEand Barton MacLane as MacBRIDE
    Also starring
    Tom Kennedy
    Arguably the best of the bunch.
  • TORCHY RUNS FOR MAYOR. Buy this DVD
    (1939, Warner Brothers)
    Based on characters created by Frederick Nebel
    Starring Glenda Farrell as TORCHY BLANEand Barton MacLane as MacBRIDE
    Also starring
    Tom Kennedy
  • TORCHY PLAYS WITH DYNAMITE. Buy this DVD
    (1939, Warner Brothers)
    Based on characters created by Frederick Nebel
    Starring Jane Wyman as TORCHY BLANEand Allen Jenkins as MacBRIDE
    Also starring
    Tom Kennedy
    .
COLLECTIONS
  • THE TORCHY BLANE COMPLETE MOVIE COLLECTION.. Buy this DVD setIncludes all nine films on five disks.
RELATED LINKS
Report respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.

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